In-house location based services

ABSTRACT

A mobile device of a user discovers topological information about electronic devices in a premise environment, and shares such information with a media gateway. The media gateway uses the topological information to augment content from a server, such as a web page that supports access to media content, to add graphical objects corresponding to those electronic devices in proximity to the mobile device that are capable of reproducing the streaming media content. Selection of the one of the add-on graphical objects causes delivery of the media content to the corresponding electronic device instead of the display of the mobile device. In this manner, a more natural selection mechanism than that available using conventional pull-down lists of options is provided.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to and thebenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/027,356 filed Sep. 16,2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/074,839, filed Mar. 29, 2011, which makes reference to, claimspriority to, and claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/454,782, filed Mar. 21, 2011, the complete subject matter ofeach of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in itsentirety for all purposes.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[Not Applicable]

MICROFICHE/COPYRIGHT REFERENCE

[Not Applicable]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A home network is typically a heterogeneous network composed of multiplewired and wireless technologies, where each individual device is handledas a single physical entity. Such an arrangement generally does notoffer seamless interconnectivity between the fixed, nomadic, and mobiledevices in the home.

The interconnection between devices (and appliances) is partiallyaddressed by technology such as that being developed by the members ofthe Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). The most recently published“DLNA Interoperability Guidelines—version 1.5” first available in March,2006, provides information about interconnecting devices. Additionalinformation about the work of the DLNA and the latest version of the“DLNA Interoperability Guidelines” may be found at“http://www.dlna.org”.

The DLNA Interoperability Guidelines do not, however, address the issuesof graphical user interface (GUI) complexity. For example, simplypresenting a listing all of the devices present in the home inmulti-level scroll down menu to allow a user to select one device may bea graphical user interface that is too cumbersome for the vast majorityof users to find acceptable, and may act as a barrier to the broadacceptance of home services based on interconnected devices.

Currently topological mapping is done by integrators on a “smart remotecontrol tablet” or “smart phone” in a fully-customized orsemi-customized way. Such mappings are limited to static mappings,however. Additional details of software applications supporting suchstatic mapping for the Apple iPad and iPhone are available fromConnecting Technology, <http://www.connecting-technology.com>.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the artthrough comparison of such systems with the present invention as setforth in the remainder of the present application with reference to thedrawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to devices, methods, and systemssupporting natural user selection of nearby electronic devices forreproduction of media content, substantially as shown in and/ordescribed in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forthmore completely in the claims.

These and other advantages, aspects, and novel features of the presentinvention, as well as details of illustrated embodiments, thereof, willbe more fully understood from the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a premise environment having a number of electronicdevices that may be elements of a network in which a representativeembodiment of the present invention may be practiced.

FIG. 2 illustrates the relative coverage areas/operating ranges of anumber of different wireless communication technologies presently in usefor data communication in electronic devices found in residential, smalloffice, and business environments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an arrangement of an IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wi-Fi) accesspoint (AP), a first television TV1, a second television TV2, and a usermobile device such as, for example, a cellular phone, a smart phone, ahandheld personal computer, or other nomadic/mobile device, in a home,small office, or business environment in which the user mobile devicewirelessly discriminates between the first television set TV1 and thesecond television set TV2 within a similar range from a IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi) access point (AP) using the wireless communication capabilitiesof the user mobile device, the IEEE 802.11 AP, and the televisions TV1and TV2 such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH® compatible radio frequencyinterfaces and IEEE 802.11 radio frequency interfaces, in accordancewith a representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is an illustration of a window of a graphical user interface(GUI) that may appear, for example, as part of a web page on the displayof a user mobile device, where the window is provided when viewing mediacontent in the form of motion video, according to the prior art.

FIG. 4B is an illustration of a window of an exemplary graphical userinterface that may appear, for example, as part of a web page on thedisplay of a user mobile device such as, for example, the user mobiledevice of FIG. 3, in which the displayed window has been augmented witha graphical icon, in accordance with a representative embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5A illustrates the operation of a representative embodiment of thepresent invention in the form of a simplified “Three-Box Model.”

FIG. 5B shows a block diagram illustrating the flow of information in asimplified premise environment having a media gateway, a television, anda user mobile device, in accordance with a representative embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6A is a block diagram illustrating the elements and informationflow of an exemplary system in which a web page provided by a web servermay be automatically augmented by a media gateway using topologicalinformation gathered by a user mobile device, in accordance with arepresentative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating the elements and informationflow of an exemplary system in which a web page provided by a web servermay be automatically augmented by a user mobile device using topologicalinformation gathered by the user mobile device, in accordance withanother representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6C is a block diagram illustrating the elements and informationflow of an exemplary system in which a web page provided by a web servermay be automatically augmented by a Web server using topologicalinformation gathered by a user mobile device, in accordance with yetanother representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate a flowchart of an exemplary method of operating amedia gateway supporting in-house location based services, in accordancewith a representative embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention relate in general to simplifying usercontrol over playback of media content. More specifically, aspects ofthe present invention relate to augmenting the graphical user interfaceof a legacy web page based on discovery of the availability of playbackdevices in proximity to a mobile device of a user, to provide astraightforward and natural means of selecting an alternate electronicdevice on which media content may be reproduced.

Although the following discussion makes frequent reference to a usermobile device as a mobile or handheld device, a cellular phone, apersonal digital assistant, or one a variety of types of personalcomputer such as, for example, a handheld, tablet, notebook, netbook, orlaptop, the inventive concepts presented herein are not specificallylimited only to use with those devices, and may find application inother electronic devices known now or in the future.

The term “stream” is used herein in relation to the communication ofmoving image (e.g., video) or audio information. This term is usedwithout specific limitation of the inventive concepts described herein,as the digital information communicated may represent still images eachof which is transmitted as certain amount of information, and not as acontinuous stream of digital content, as might be the case in thecommunication of video and audio streams.

The term “media content” is used herein to refer to still image, motionvideo, audio, text, and graphical image information.

The term “premise environment” is used herein to refer to the usablephysical space considered to be part of a residence, small office, orbusiness.

The term “topological information” is used herein to refer toinformation that represents, for example, the identities, physicalarrangement, communicative coupling (i.e., connectivity), andcapabilities of electronic devices capable of wireless communication ina premise environment.

The term “wireless communication circuitry” is used herein to refer toelements of an electronic device that permit wireless communication withone or more similar devices, devices of other types, or elements of acommunication infrastructure such as, for example, wireless basestations, access points, and terminals of wireless wide area, localarea, personal area, and near-field networks.

It should be noted that although this disclosure describes the use ofwireless communication according to wireless technologies complyingwith, for example, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers(IEEE) 802.11 a/b/g/n, TGac, and/or s recommendations, the BLUETOOTH®communication protocol, the Zigbee® communication protocol, and thespecifications of the Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum, the use ofthese wireless communications technologies do not represent a specificlimitation of the present invention, as the techniques describes hereinmay be practiced using wireless communications technologies other thanthose mentioned herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a premise environment 100 having a number ofelectronic devices that may be elements of a network in which arepresentative embodiment of the present invention may be practiced. Apremise environment may be, for example, a private residence, a businessoffice, or any other location having a electronic devices capable ofbeing networked. The premise environment 100 illustrated in FIG. 1includes a wireless access point (WAP) 110, a first television 120, asecond television 130, a user mobile device 140, and a personal computer150. The electronic devices shown in FIG. 1 are for purposes ofillustration only, and are not intended to represent specificlimitations of the present invention. The wireless access point 110 mayprovide wireless local area network access for the electronic devices inand around the premises environment 100 to a wired or wireless local orwide area network 105 such as, for example, a digital subscriber linenetwork, a cable television network, a satellite network, a wirelessIEEE 802.16 (WiMax) network, or other suitable network.

Each of the first television 120, the second television 130, the usermobile device 140, and the personal computer 150 may be equipped tocommunicate with the wireless access point 110 using wirelesscommunication circuitry compliant with an IEEE 802.11 a, b, g, n, TGac,and/or s, BLUETOOTH®, Zigbee® (IEEE 802.15.4), Near Field Communication(NFC), infra-red (IR), or other suitable present or future wirelesscommunication technology. In addition, the electronic devices shown inFIG. 1 may be equipped with additional wireless communication circuitryto communicate with each other using, for example, any of the IEEE802.11 a, b, g, n, TGac, or s, BLUETOOTH®, Zigbee® (IEEE 802.15.4), NearField Communication (NFC), infra-red (IR), or other suitable present orfuture wireless communication technologies.

FIG. 2 illustrates the relative coverage areas/operating ranges of anumber of different wireless communication technologies presently in usefor data communication in electronic devices found in residential, smalloffice, and business environments. Such communication technologiesinclude, for example, the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11a, b, g, n, TGac, and s (aka Wi-Fi) standards,the BLUETOOTH® standard, Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4), and Near FieldCommunication (NFC) Forum Specification, which may be employed in arepresentative embodiment of the present invention.

The examples of wireless communication technologies illustrated in FIG.2 differ in many ways including, for example, data transmission rates,types of modulation used, and transmitted signal power. The radius ofcoverage of equipment employing the IEEE 802.11 b and g standards usingan omni-directional antenna, for example, shown in FIG. 2 as theouter-most circular boundary 210, is estimated at between 150-300 feet,with IEEE 802.11a normally providing about one third of that range, andIEEE 802.11n providing a greater operating range than that of IEEE802.11 b/g.

The operating range for BLUETOOTH®, illustrated in FIG. 2 by thecircular boundary 220, is normally stated as being between 6 and 250meters (between approximately 20 and 830 feet), depending upon thetransmit power level, transmission path characteristics, and receiversensitivity. Transmit power level for radios operating according to theBLUETOOTH® Specification is classified as Class 1 (100 mw), Class 2 (2.5mw), or Class 3 (1 mw), respectively.

The operating range for Zigbee® (IEEE 802.15.4), illustrated by thecircular boundary 230 in FIG. 2, is generally considered to be similarto that of IEEE 802.11, but Zigbee® operates at considerably lowertransmit power levels and bit rates that IEEE 802.11.

The operating range of near-field communication (NFC), illustrated bythe circular boundary 240 in FIG. 2, is extremely limited and offers auseful range of only a few tens of centimeters.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, dynamic andself-learning mapping may be automated by extracting topologicalinformation from correlated signal information (e.g., channelestimation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Time Synchronization . . . )provided by any of a number of wireless technologies whenever availablesuch as, for example, IEEE802.11 (aka Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH®, IEEE 802.15.4(Zigbee®), and near-field communication (NFC), as illustrated in FIG. 2.

These communication technologies may be used alone or in combination toaid in locating a device within a room, residence, or business, and toconvey the identity and capabilities of electronic devices such as thoseof FIG. 1, for example.

The actual wireless technology used in a representative embodiment ofthe present invention to locate an electronic device within the premisemay be any combination of technologies selected from a variety ofdifferent known approaches, and does not represent a specific limitationof the present invention. The details of location using such wirelesscommunication technologies will not be described in detail here.

Presently, electronic devices such as those typically found in the home,small office, and business environment nowadays are generally handled asa single physical entity, although as will be shown below, thesephysical devices could be dynamically linked as virtual multimodaldevices delivering content and manageability through multimodal means,for example, by selecting a stream on a mobile device but thendisplaying the stream on a nearby television (TV) set in the nativeresolution of the TV screen. To provide what may be referred to as a“natural graphical user interface (GUI)”, where “natural” is given thesame meaning as in “natural language,” the electronic devices may bemade aware of their topological locations within a home/smalloffice/business environment, in order to offer a nomadic/mobile user aneasy way to use the services of the electronic devices immediatelyavailable in his/her current environment.

As an illustrative but non-limiting example, in a first scenario, aperson may enter the family room of a home with her cellular phone andmay wish to share a video clip (e.g., from YouTube®) with those present,on a television set in the family room. In a representative embodimentof the present invention, a GUI shown on the display of the cellularphone may offer the option to direct the video clip to the televisionset in the family room, instead of forcing the user to display the clipon the small screen of her cellular phone, or scroll down a menu listingall the display devices connected in the home.

As another illustrative but non-limiting example, in a second scenario,a person may browse the Web using his/her own electronic device. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, the displayed Webpages may be simultaneously displayed on a television screen in the roomin which they are located. The person may use his/her portableelectronic device to display an electronic “TV Guide,” and send commandsto the television set.

As yet another illustrative but non-limiting example, in a thirdscenario, a person may start playing a game on a television set while inthe living room of a home, using a wireless handheld device. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, the user may thenmove to a second display device, for example, a television in anotherroom of the home, while seamlessly continuing to play the game on thedisplay device in the second room.

FIG. 3 illustrates an arrangement of an IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wi-Fi) accesspoint (AP) 310, a first television TV1 320, a second television TV2 330,and a user mobile device 340 such as, for example, a cellular phone, asmart phone, a handheld personal computer, or other nomadic/mobiledevice, in a home, small office, or business environment in which theuser mobile device 340 wirelessly discriminates between the firsttelevision set TV1 320 and the second television set TV2 330 within asimilar range from a IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) access point (AP) 310 using thewireless communication capabilities of the user mobile device 340, theIEEE 802.11 AP 310, and the televisions TV1 320 and TV2 330 such as, forexample, a BLUETOOTH® compatible radio frequency interfaces and IEEE802.11 radio frequency interfaces, in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the Wi-Fi AP 310 may be equipped tocommunicate with the TV1 320 and TV2 330 over IEEE 802.11 compliantwireless radio frequency communication paths 315 and 225, respectively.The user mobile device 340 may also communicate with the Wi-Fi AP 310over IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless RF communication path 335. Inaddition, the televisions TV1 320 and TV2 330 may be equipped tocommunicate with the user mobile device 340 using a wirelesscommunication protocol such as, for example, that described by theBLUETOOTH® Specification, over wireless communication paths 355 and 345,respectively.

Although this discussion of FIG. 3 describes the use of radio frequencysignals compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard and the BLUETOOTH®Specification, these aspects of the illustrative example of FIG. 3 arenot specific limitations of the present invention, as any suitabletechnique for locating nearby electronic devices capable of receiving,processing, and reproducing information content may be employed by theuser mobile device 340, and other electronic devices like thetelevisions TV1 320 and TV2 330, and AP 310, in a representativeembodiment of the present invention.

In the example of FIG. 3, the televisions TV1 320 and TV2 330 may beequipped to receive and display media content such as, for example, astill image, motion video, web pages, and other digital informationcommunicated via the AP 310 over wireless communication paths 315 and325, respectively. The user mobile device 340 may be similarly capableof receiving and displaying media content such as, for example, stillimages, motion video, web pages, and other digital informationcommunicated by the AP 310. In some representative embodiments, the usermobile device 340 may employ additional wireless communication paths inreceiving media content for display/playback.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the user mobiledevice 340 may be equipped to use wireless signals communicated by theWi-Fi AP 310, the TV1 320, the TV2 330, and/or other electronic devicesin the vicinity of the location of the user mobile device 340 to learnof the presence and capabilities of those other electronic devices. Theuser mobile device 340 may use information communicated on orcharacteristics of the signals communicated from one electronic deviceto another to ascertain the geographic location and/or the topology ofthe user mobile device 340 and the electronic devices in the vicinity ofthe user mobile device 340. For example, this may be done using receivesignal strength information measured by the receivers in electronicdevices such as the AP 310, TV1 320, TV2 330, and the user mobile device340. Other characteristics of wireless signals may also be employed,alone or in combination with receive signal strength.

The user mobile device 340 of a representative embodiment of the presentinvention may also learn the identities and capabilities of theelectronic devices accessible to the user mobile device 340, and anyelectronic devices in the vicinity of the user mobile device 340 maylearn of the identity and capabilities of the user mobile device 340.Illustrative but non-limiting examples of capabilities of the electronicdevices of FIG. 3 include the ability to generate, store, play backand/or reproduce one or more streams of video and/or audio information,and the ability to generate, store, display and/or reproduce stillpictures, to name only a few examples.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, an electronicdevice such as the user mobile device 340 may enter a residential, smalloffice, or business environment such as the premise environment 100 ofFIG. 1. The user mobile device 340 may discover one or more electronicdevices within proximity of the user mobile device, such as, forexample, one or both of televisions TV1 320 and TV2 330 of FIG. 3, andmay receive identity and capability information from TV1 320, TV2 330,and AP 310. Although radio frequency communication paths 335, 345, and355 are shown in illustration of FIG. 3, one or more of those possiblecommunication paths may not meet criteria set by a manufacturer and/or auser of the user mobile device 340 used to place the respectiveelectronic devices (i.e., AP 310, TV2 330, and TV1 320) within a certaindistance or proximity range to the user mobile device 340, making thoseelectronic devices accessible or available to the user mobile device340.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, informationabout the discovered electronic device(s) in a premise environment,along with identity and capability information, may be used to create acollection or database of topological information. In somerepresentative embodiments, the topological information, includingidentity and capability information gathered in this manner, is thenstored in memory of the user mobile device 340. The information storedmay be selected or categorized based upon the manufacturer/user definedcriteria used to classify target electronic devices as accessible oravailable. In other representative embodiments, the topologicalinformation, including the gathered identity and capability information,may be stored in memory of electronic devices within the premiseenvironment other than, or in addition to, the user mobile device 340,and/or in memory of electronic devices external to the premiseenvironment, as will be explained further, below.

Although the user mobile device 340 may be equipped with circuitry tocommunicate with electronic devices in the surrounding environment usingone or more wireless communication technologies, it may be necessary forthe user of the user mobile device 340 to aid in solving any initialindetermination in locating the user mobile device 340 within thepremise environment, by providing answers to a few questions presentedby a simple wizard-type application on the user mobile device 340. Forexample, referring now to FIG. 1, the user mobile device 140 maydiscover that the first television 120 and the second television 130meet criteria for making them both accessible to the user mobile device140. A user may wish to identify or “map” the whereabouts within thepremise environment 100 of each accessible electronic device, to enablea user of the user mobile device 140 to later unambiguously select oneof the first and second televisions 120, 130, for example.

As an illustrative but non-limiting example, the first time an“unmapped” television set is discovered by a nomadic/mobile electronicdevice such as, for example, the user mobile device 340 of FIG. 3, auser of the electronic device may be prompted to identify the room inwhich the discovered television set is located, using a simple GUI. Theelectronic device (e.g., user mobile device 340) may then transmit thelocation provided by the user, to the discovered television. Once thediscovered television knows its location, the television is then able toadvertise or share its location with other electronic devices such as,for example, the mobile phone 340, during discovery. Over time, as moreand more electronic devices and appliances in the home/smalloffice/business environment are discovered and mapped, the localizationof a nomadic/mobile electronic device may be made more precise, by thenomadic/electronic device ranging against the known location(s) of thestatic electronic devices and appliances within the home/smalloffice/business environment.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the topologicalinformation, including identity an capability information, gatheredduring the discovery and mapping of the static electronic devices andappliances by a nomadic/mobile electronic device may be used to providea user interface to replace cumbersome legacy menu schemes now in use,by providing a mechanism to, for example, automatically augment adisplayed Web page, “on the fly” using, for example, a home/smalloffice/business web server proxy or media gateway to include topologicaloptions in displayed content.

FIG. 4A is an illustration of a window 400 of a graphical user interface(GUI) that may appear, for example, as part of a web page on the displayof a user mobile device, where the window 400 is provided when viewingmedia content in the form of motion video, according to the prior art.Such a graphical user interface may be used for viewing files of motionvideo encoded according to an encoding methodology of the Motion PictureExperts Group (MPEG), for example. The window 400 includes a progressbar 420 representing the entirety of the motion video file, and anindicator 415 to show the relative position within the displayed file ofthe currently displayed image. An actual indication of the currentelapsed time and the total duration of the motion video file is shown aselapsed and total time indicator 435. A graphical icon 440 is displayedto enable the viewer to start the viewing of the motion video file onthe display of the user mobile device by simply selecting the graphicalicon 440. During viewing, the position of the indicator 415 along theprogress bar 420 represents relative progress in playback of the motionvideo file.

FIG. 4B is an illustration of a window 400 of an exemplary graphicaluser interface that may appear, for example, as part of a web page onthe display of a user mobile device such as, for example, the usermobile device 340 of FIG. 3, in which the displayed window 400 has beenaugmented with a graphical icon 450, in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention. The graphical icon 450 shown aspart of window 400 enables a user to direct media content accessed bythe user of the user mobile device 340, for example, for playback orreproduction on a suitable electronic device in proximity to the usermobile device 340. The graphical icon 450 is displayed to the user ofthe user mobile device 340, for example, based upon a determination thatan electronic device in the proximity of the user mobile device 340 is asuitable electronic device for display/playback/reproduction of themedia content accessed by the user of the user mobile device 340. Such adetermination uses the topological information created during discoveryby the user mobile device 340 of the electronic devices in proximity toand accessible by the user mobile device 340. Although FIG. 4B showsonly one icon (i.e., icon 450) representing a single suitable electronicdevice for display/playback/reproduction of media content accessed bythe user mobile device 340, this does not represent a specificlimitation of a representative embodiment of the present invention. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, a user mobile devicesuch as the user mobile device 340, for example, may display a graphicalicon such as, e.g., the icon 450 of FIG. 4B, for a number of suitableelectronic device accessible to the user mobile device 340, to enable auser of the user mobile device 340 to select which of the accessibleelectronic devices in proximity to the user mobile device 340 is toreceive the media content accessed by the user of the user mobile device340.

FIG. 5A illustrates the operation of a representative embodiment of thepresent invention in the form of a simplified “Three-Box Model.” Themodel illustrated in FIG. 5A includes an entity that acts as a source ofmedia content 502 such as, for example, a web server, an entity thatperforms modification of the media content 520 such as, for example, amedia gateway, and an entity that renders media content 575 such as, forexample, a web browser application in a mobile device. The model of FIG.5A may be implemented in a number of ways.

In one representative embodiment of the present invention, the entitiesthat act as source of the media content, the modifier of the mediacontent, and the renderer of the media content may be divided asillustrated in FIG. 5A, with a web server transmitting web page contentto a media gateway that performs modification of the web page content,and that sends the modified web page content to a user mobile devicehaving a web browser application which processes the receives andrenders the web page content for viewing.

In another representative embodiment of the present invention, theentity that acts as source of the web page content may also act of themodifier of the web page content. In such an arrangement, a web servermay modify web page content in the manner to be described below, beforetransmission to a browser application of a user mobile device forrendering and viewing.

In yet a third representative embodiment of the present invention, theentity which acts as source of the web page content may transmit therequested web page content to the user mobile device, which may modifythe received web page content in the manner to be described below,before the modified web page content is rendered for viewing.

FIG. 5B shows a block diagram illustrating the flow of information in asimplified premise environment 500 having a media gateway 520, atelevision 550, and a user mobile device 560, in accordance with arepresentative embodiment of the present invention. Following power-upor upon entering the premise environment 500, the user mobile device 560performs topological discovery to ascertain which, if any, electronicdevices are in the proximity of the user mobile device 560. Thecommunication of identity and capability information collected by theuser mobile device 560 while performing the topological discovery isrepresented in FIG. 5B as information flow 555. Following topologicaldiscovery, the user mobile device 560 shares the topological informationgathered during topological discovery with the media gateway 520 viainformation flow 535. At some later time, the user uses a web browser toaccess a web page from a web server (not shown). The web servertransmits the requested web page, represented in FIG. 5B by informationflow 515, to the media gateway 520. Information flow 515 may be in theform of, for example, a stream of hypertext markup language (HTML)language constructs that define/describe the content of the graphicalelements of the requested web page.

Upon receiving the information flow 515 that represents the web pagerequested by the user mobile device 560, the media gateway 520 processesthe information flow 515 using the topological information receivedearlier from the user mobile device 560. If the information flow 515representing the requested web page includes language constructs thatsupport access to a stream of media content, the media gateway 520examines the topological information received from the user mobiledevice 560 to ascertain whether any electronic devices suitable fordisplay/playback/reproduction of the stream of media content were foundin the proximity of the user mobile device 560 during the topologicaldiscovery process. If no electronic devices suitable fordisplay/playback/reproduction of the stream of media content were found,the information flow 515 is passed to the user mobile device 560unchanged.

If, however, electronic devices suitable fordisplay/playback/reproduction of a stream of media content were locatedduring the topological discovery, the media gateway 520 augments the webpage content communicated as information flow 515, so that languageconstructs representing one or more additional graphical icons such as,for example, the icon 450 of FIG. 4B, are inserted appropriately intoinformation flow 515. Each of the additional graphical icons for whichinformation is inserted into information flow 515 represents anelectronic device found during topological discovery that was deemedsuitable for display/playback/reproduction of the stream of mediacontent. The inserted information for each graphical icon is arranged sothat selecting the graphical icon sends to the media gateway 520 acommand that indicates that playback of the associated stream of mediacontent was selected, and parameter(s) that identify the electronicdevice represented by the graphical icon selected. The augmented webpage, which includes the information representing the additionalgraphical icons, is then transmitted by the media gateway 520 to theuser mobile device 560 as information flow 540.

When the user mobile device 560 receives the augmented web pagerepresented by information flow 540, a web browser in the user mobiledevice 560 renders the augmented web page content to the display of theuser mobile device 560, displaying the original web page contentrepresented by information flow 515, along with any additional graphicalicons representing the electronic devices found during the discoveryprocess that are suitable for display/playback/reproduction of therequested stream of media content. The user of the user mobile device560 may then view the original web page content on the user mobiledevice 560, and select from any of the graphical elements or iconsrepresented by information flow 540, including the additional graphicalicons (e.g., icon 450 of FIG. 4B) that represent the electronic devicessuitable for display/playback/reproduction of the stream of mediacontent accessible via the web page.

If the user selects a graphical element or icon displayed on the screenof the user mobile device 560, the browser responds by sending to themedia gateway 520 a command intended for the server (not shown) fromwhich the web page represented by information flow 515 was sent. Themedia gateway 520, upon receiving the command, uses the command and anyparameters, and the topological information previously received from theuser mobile device 560, to determine whether the received command was acommand sent in response to user selection of one of the graphical iconsincluded in the information flow 540 by the media gateway 520. If thereceived command was not a command sent in response to user selection ofone of the graphical icons included in the information flow 540 by themedia gateway 520, the command and related parameters are forwarded tothe server, and any media content sent to the media gateway 520 by theserver is forwarded to the user mobile device 560 for rendering anddisplay.

If, however, the media gateway 520 determines that the received commandwas sent in response to user selection of one of the graphical iconsinserted into the information flow 540 by the media gateway 520, themedia gateway 520 directs media content subsequently received from theserver, such as the stream of media content 510 of FIG. 5B, to theelectronic device that corresponds to the graphical icon selected by theuser of the user mobile device 560. The media gateway 520 uses thecommand and any related parameters, and the topological informationpreviously received from the user mobile device 560, to send commandinformation represented by information flow 530, and the stream of mediacontent represented by information flow 525, to the electronic devicerepresented by the selected graphical icon. This communication employsthe wireless communication path supported by the electronic devicerepresented by the graphical icon selected by the user. In this manner,the user of the user mobile device 560 has employed a simple extensionto a familiar graphical user interface (i.e., a web page) to direct thedesired stream of media content that would normally be rendered on theuser mobile device 560 so that it instead is rendered on one of thesuitable electronic devices in the premise environment of the usermobile device 560.

It should be note that the above description applies to onerepresentative embodiment of the present invention. Other representativeembodiments of the present invention may support directing the stream ofmedia content of information flow 510 to both the user mobile device 560and one or more suitable electronic devices in the premise environmentof user mobile device 560.

FIG. 6A is a block diagram illustrating the elements and informationflow of an exemplary system 600 in which a web page 615 provided by aweb server 602 may be automatically augmented by a media gateway 620using topological information 645 gathered by a user mobile device 660,in accordance with a representative embodiment of the present invention.As illustrated in FIG. 6A, the system 600 comprises a Web server 602with storage 605, a communication network represented as Web 630, amedia gateway 620 having a topological database 655, and a user mobiledevice 660 with browser 675. The Web server 602 may be any suitablecomputer capable of running Web server software from any of a number ofproviders such as the open-source Apache web server software, forexample, although other suitable web server software may also be used.The storage 605 may be used to store Web pages for distribution by theWeb server 602, in addition to program code and data for operation ofthe Web server 602. The media gateway 620 may be, for example, anysuitable residential gateway or personal computer equipped with softwarethat provides functionality such as that described herein.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the user mobiledevice 660 may be any of a number of mobile/nomadic electronic devicessuch as, for example, a browser-equipped cellular telephone or smartphone, a wireless personal digital assistant, a wireless laptop,notebook, tablet, or netbook-type personal computer, or any othersuitable electronic device capable of receiving and displaying/renderingweb pages from the Web server 602. The system 600 illustrated in FIG. 6Aalso includes an electronic device 680 assumed for the purposes of thisdiscussion to be capable of rendering media content from the Web server602. Although not shown in FIG. 6A for reasons of clarity, the usermobile device 660 and the electronic device 680 are equipped withwireless communication circuitry to enable them to communicate with eachother when in proximity to one another.

As described in greater detail above with respect to FIG. 5B, in arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, the user mobiledevice 660 may generate topological information 645 during topologicaldiscovery and mapping activities in a premise environment. In therepresentative embodiment of FIG. 6A, the user mobile device 660 mayascertain that the electronic device 680 shown in FIG. 6A is accessibleto the user mobile device 660, and may collect identity and capabilityinformation from the electronic device 680, create topologicalinformation 645 about any electronic device(s) discovered in theproximity of the user mobile device (i.e., electronic device 680), andmay then send the topological information 645 to the media gateway 620,which may store the topological information in a topology database 655.

At some time after the completion of the discovery process, a user ofuser mobile device 660 may employ the browser 675 to access a Web page615 from Web server 602. Although referred to herein as a “Web server,”the server 602 of a representative embodiment of the present inventionis not specifically limited to function in that role, but instead may bepart of any suitable communication network. The Web server 602 respondsto the Web page access by the user of the user mobile device 660 bycommunicating content such as Web page 615, for example, to the usermobile device 660 via a communication network that may include, forexample, the Internet (i.e., the Web 630) and the media gateway 620. TheWeb page 615 may be represented in a language such as, for example,HTML, and may contain language constructs that are rendered by browser675 as selectable graphical icons representing additional content thatmay be accessed by user selection. The additional content available viathe Web page 615 may include a selectable icon representing streamingmedia content, for example.

If upon receipt of the Web page 615 the media gateway 620 determinesthat Web page 615 contains language constructs for accessing, forexample, streaming media content, the media gateway 620, in accordancewith a representative embodiment of the present invention, may modify oraugment the information representing Web page 615 by insertingadditional language constructs representing additional graphical iconsinto the data representing the Web page 615. The media gateway 620 of arepresentative embodiment of the present invention automaticallygenerates the language constructs appropriate to represent graphicalicons for each of the electronic devices (e.g., electronic device 680)that are found to be in proximity and accessible to the user mobiledevice 660, and that are able to receive and render the media contentfor display/playback/reproduction. The media gateway 620 then modifiesor “augments” the media content of the Web page 615 by inserting thegenerated information representing the additional graphical iconsappropriately into the media content representing web page 615, to causethe additional graphical icons to appear in logical association with therelated media content available for display/playback/reproduction whenthe modified/augmented Web page 640 is later rendered and displayed bythe browser 675 of the user mobile device 660. The media gateway 620then transmits the modified/augmented Web page 640 to the user mobiledevice 660 for rendering and display.

If the user selects a graphical element or icon displayed on the screenof the user mobile device 660, the browser 675 responds by sending tothe media gateway 620 a command intended for the Web server 602 fromwhich the Web page 615 was sent. The media gateway 620, upon receivingthe command, uses the command and any parameters, and the topologicalinformation previously received from the user mobile device 660 andstored in the topology database 655, to determine whether the receivedcommand was a command sent in response to user selection of one of thegraphical icons included in the modified/augmented Web page 640 by themedia gateway 620. If the received command was not a command sent inresponse to user selection of one of the graphical icons included in theWeb page 640 by the media gateway 620, the command and relatedparameters are forwarded to the Web server 602, and any media contentsent to the media gateway 620 by the Web server 602 is forwarded to theuser mobile device 660 for rendering and display by the browser 675.

If, however, the media gateway 620 determines that the received commandwas sent in response to user selection of one of the graphical iconsinserted into the modified/augmented Web page 640 by the media gateway620, the media gateway 620 directs media content subsequently receivedfrom the Web server 602 such as, for example, the media content 610 ofFIG. 6A, to the electronic device that corresponds to the graphical iconselected by the user of the user mobile device 660, in this example, asmedia content 625 sent to the electronic device 680. The media gateway620 uses the command and any related parameters, and the topologicalinformation previously received from the user mobile device 660 andstored in the topology database 655, to send command information, andthe media content represented in FIG. 6A by information flow 625, to theelectronic device 680, employing the wireless communication pathsupported by the electronic device 680. In this manner, the user of theuser mobile device 660 is enabled to direct the desired media content toa suitable electronic device in the premise environment of the usermobile device 660, using an extension to a familiar web page interface.In addition, in accordance with a representative embodiment of thepresent invention, the media gateway 620 may produce media contentsuitable for rendering and display on the user mobile device 660, shownin FIG. 6A as the dashed line representing media content 635, to enablethe user of the user mobile device 660 to view the same content on usermobile device 660, as that directed by the media gateway 620 forrendering and display on the electronic device 680.

FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating the elements and informationflow of an exemplary system 600 in which a web page 615 provided by aweb server 602 may be automatically augmented by a user mobile device660 using topological information 645 gathered by the user mobile device660, in accordance with another representative embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, the system 600 comprises a Webserver 602 with storage 605, a communication network represented as Web630, and a user mobile device 660 with browser 675 and a topologicaldatabase. The Web server 602 may be any suitable computer capable ofrunning Web server software from any of a number of providers such asthe open-source Apache web server software, for example, although othersuitable web server software may also be used. The storage 605 may beused to store Web pages for distribution by the Web server 602, inaddition to program code and data for operation of the Web server 602.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the user mobiledevice 660 may be any of a number of mobile/nomadic electronic devicessuch as, for example, a browser-equipped cellular telephone or smartphone, a wireless personal digital assistant, a wireless laptop,notebook, tablet, or netbook-type personal computer, or any othersuitable electronic device capable of receiving and displaying/renderingweb pages from the Web server 602. The system 600 illustrated in FIG. 6Balso includes an electronic device 680 assumed for the purposes of thisdiscussion to be capable of rendering media content from the Web server602. As shown in FIG. 6B, the user mobile device 660 and the electronicdevice 680 are equipped with wireless communication circuitry to enablethem to communicate with each other when in proximity to one another.

in a representative embodiment of the present invention, the user mobiledevice 660 may generate topological information 645 during topologicaldiscovery and mapping activities in a premise environment, which may bestored in a database contained in memory of the user mobile device 660,shown in FIG. 6B as topology database 655. In the representativeembodiment of FIG. 6B, the user mobile device 660 may ascertain that theelectronic device 680 shown in FIG. 6B is accessible to the user mobiledevice 660, and may collect identity and capability information from theelectronic device 680, create topological information 645 about anyelectronic device(s) discovered in the proximity of the user mobiledevice (i.e., electronic device 680), and store the topologicalinformation in the topology database 655.

At some time after the completion of the discovery process, the user ofuser mobile device 660 may use the browser 675 to access a Web page 615from Web server 602. The Web server 602 responds to the Web page accessby the user of the user mobile device 660 by communicating content suchas Web page 615, for example, to the user mobile device 660 via acommunication network that may include, for example, the Internet (i.e.,the Web 630). The Web page 615 may be represented in a markup languagethat supports hyperlinks to media content such as, for example, HTML,and may contain language constructs that are rendered by browser 675 asselectable graphical icons representing additional content that may beaccessed by user selection. The additional content available via the Webpage 615 may include a selectable icon representing streaming mediacontent, for example.

Upon receipt of a Web page 615 that contains language constructs foraccessing, for example, streaming media content, the user mobile device660 of example of FIG. 6B, may modify or augment the informationrepresenting Web page 615 by inserting additional language constructsrepresenting additional graphical icons. The user mobile device 660 ofsuch a representative embodiment of the present invention automaticallygenerates the language constructs appropriate to represent graphicalicons for each of the electronic devices (e.g., electronic device 680)that are found to be in proximity and accessible to the user mobiledevice 660, and that are able to receive and render media content fordisplay/playback/reproduction, such as the electronic device 680 of FIG.6B. The user mobile device 660 then modifies or “augments” the mediacontent of the Web page 615 by inserting the generated informationrepresenting the additional graphical icons appropriately into the mediacontent representing web page 615 producing modified/augmented Web page640, arranged to cause the additional graphical icons to appear inlogical association with the related media content available fordisplay/playback/reproduction when rendered by browser 675. The browser675 then renders and displays the modified/augmented Web page 640 on theuser mobile device 660.

If the user selects a graphical element or icon displayed on the screenof the user mobile device 660, software of the user mobile device 660determines whether the selected graphical icon is one of the graphicalicons inserted into the modified/augmented Web page 640 by the usermobile device 660. If the selected graphical icon was not one of thegraphical icons added to the Web page 640 by the user mobile device 660,a command and related parameters used to access the desired mediacontent are sent to the Web server 602 by the user mobile device 660. Inresponse, the Web server 602 sends the requested media content to theuser mobile device 660. The media content received by the user mobiledevice 660 is then is then rendered and displayed by the browser 675.

If, however, the user mobile device 660 determines that the selectedgraphical icon is one of the graphical icons inserted into themodified/augmented Web page 640 by the user mobile device 660, a commandand related parameters used to access the desired media content are sentto the Web server 602 by the user mobile device 660, and the user mobiledevice 660 directs media content subsequently received from the Webserver 602, such as the media content 610 of FIG. 6B, to the electronicdevice that corresponds to the graphical icon selected by the user ofthe user mobile device 660, in this example, as the media content 625sent to the electronic device 680. The user mobile device 660 uses thecommand and any related parameters, and the topological informationpreviously collected by the user mobile device 660 and stored in thetopology database 655, to send command information, and media contentrepresented in FIG. 6B by information flow 625, to the electronic device680, employing the wireless communication path supported by theelectronic device 680 and user mobile device 660. In this manner, theuser of the user mobile device 660 is enabled to direct the desiredmedia content to a suitable electronic device in the premise environmentof the user mobile device 660, using a simple extension to a familiarweb page interface.

FIG. 6C is a block diagram illustrating the elements and informationflow of an exemplary system 600 in which a web page 615 provided by aweb server 602 may be automatically augmented by a Web server 602 usingtopological information 645 gathered by a user mobile device 660, inaccordance with yet another representative embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 6C, the system 600 comprises a Webserver 602 with storage 605 and a topology database 655, a communicationnetwork represented as Intranet 630, and a user mobile device 660 withbrowser 675. The Web server 602 may be any suitable computer capable ofrunning Web server software from any of a number of providers such asthe open-source Apache web server software, for example, although othersuitable web server software may also be used. The storage 605 may beused to store Web pages for distribution by the Web server 602, inaddition to program code and data for operation of the Web server 602.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the user mobiledevice 660 may be any of a number of mobile/nomadic electronic devicessuch as, for example, a browser-equipped cellular telephone or smartphone, a wireless personal digital assistant, a wireless laptop,notebook, tablet, or netbook-type personal computer, or any othersuitable electronic device capable of receiving and displaying/renderingweb pages from the Web server 602. The system 600 illustrated in FIG. 6Calso includes an electronic device 680 assumed for the purposes of thisdiscussion to be capable of rendering media content from the Web server602. Although not shown in FIG. 6C for reasons of clarity, the usermobile device 660 and the electronic device 680 are equipped withwireless communication circuitry to enable them to communicate with eachother when in proximity to one another.

In the representative embodiment of FIG. 6C, the user mobile device 660may ascertain that the electronic device 680 shown in FIG. 6C isaccessible to the user mobile device 660, and may collect identity andcapability information from the electronic device 680, createtopological information 645 about any electronic device(s) (e.g.,electronic device 680) discovered in the proximity of the user mobiledevice, and may send the topological information 645 to the Web server602, which may store the topological information in the topologydatabase 655.

Later, after completion of the discovery process, the user of usermobile device 660 may use the browser 675 to access a Web page 615 fromWeb server 602. The Web server 602 may respond to the Web page access bythe user of the user mobile device 660 by accessing content such as Webpage 615, for example, for the user mobile device 660. The Web page 615may be represented in a markup language that supports hyperlinks tomedia content such as, for example, HTML, and may contain languageconstructs that will be rendered by browser 675 of user mobile device660 as selectable graphical icons representing additional content thatmay be accessed by user selection. The additional content available viathe Web page 615 may include a selectable icon representing streamingmedia content, for example.

If the Web server 602 determines that the Web page 615 contains languageconstructs for accessing, for example, streaming media content, the Webserver 602, operating in accordance with a representative embodiment ofthe present invention, modifies or augments the information representingWeb page 615 by inserting additional language constructs representingadditional graphical icons. The Web server 602 of a representativeembodiment of the present invention automatically generates the languageconstructs appropriate to represent graphical icons for each of theelectronic devices (e.g., electronic device 680) that are found to be inproximity and accessible to the user mobile device 660, and that areable to receive and render the media content fordisplay/playback/reproduction, as indicated by the information stored inthe topology database 655. The Web server 602 then modifies or“augments” the media content of the Web page 615 by inserting thegenerated information representing the additional graphical iconsappropriately into the media content representing web page 615, to causethe additional graphical icons to appear in logical association with therelated media content available for display/playback/reproduction whenrendered and displayed by the browser 675 of user mobile device 660. TheWeb server 602 then transmits the modified/augmented Web page 640 to theuser mobile device 660 for rendering and display by the browser 675.

If the user selects a graphical element or icon displayed on the screenof the user mobile device 660, the browser 675 responds by sending acommand and related parameters to the Web server 602 from which the Webpage 615 was sent. The Web server 602, upon receiving the command, usesthe command and related parameters, and the topological informationpreviously received from the user mobile device 660 and stored in thetopology database 655 to determine whether the received command is acommand sent in response to user selection of one of the graphical iconsinserted into the modified/augmented Web page 640 by the Web server 602.If the received command was not sent in response to user selection ofone of the graphical icons included in the Web page 640 by the Webserver 602, the requested media content is sent to the user mobiledevice 660 by the Web server 602 for rendering and display by thebrowser 675.

If, however, the Web server 602 determines that the received command wassent in response to user selection of one of the graphical iconsinserted into the modified/augmented Web page 640 by the Web server 602,the Web server 602 causes the media content to be delivered to theelectronic device 680. In one representative embodiment of the presentinvention, the Web server 602 may send the media content 610 to theelectronic device 680, as shown in FIG. 6C by addressing the packetscontaining streaming media content to the electronic device 680, usingthe information in topology database 655. In this manner, the user ofthe user mobile device 660 is enabled to direct the desired mediacontent to a suitable electronic device in the premise environment ofthe user mobile device 660, using a simple extension to a familiar webpage interface.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate a flowchart of an exemplary method of operating amedia gateway supporting in-house location based services, in accordancewith a representative embodiment of the present invention. The followingdiscussion of the method of FIGS. 7A-7B makes reference to the elementsof FIG. 6A.

The method of FIG. 7A begins following power-up of a media gateway suchas the media gateway 620 of FIG. 6A. At some point in time thereafter, auser mobile device such as the user mobile device 660 of FIG. 6A entersinto a premise environment served by the media gateway at block 710, andperforms discovery to determine what, if any, electronic devices are inproximity of the user mobile device 660. In a representative embodimentof the present invention, discovery by the user mobile device 660 may bea continuing process that identifies at any point in time whatelectronic devices are in proximity to and accessible by the user mobiledevice 660. At some time after the completion of discovery, such as atthe time the user mobile device detects the presence of the mediagateway 620, and/or periodically thereafter, the user mobile device 660shares topological information collected by the user mobile device 660with the media gateway 620.

Beginning now, at block 710, the media gateway 620 receives topologicalinformation collected by the user mobile device 660. The collectedtopological information includes identity and capability information ofany electronic devices in proximity to the user mobile device 660. Themedia gateway 620 may store the received topological information in adatabase such as topology database 655. At some later time, at block712, the media gateway 620 receives a Web page request from the usermobile device 660. The media gateway 620 then, at block 714, transmitsthe received Web page request to the Web server 602, and shortlythereafter receives the requested Web page, at block 716. In accordancewith a representative embodiment of the present invention, the receivedWeb page may be described in terms of constructs of, for example, thehypertext markup language (HTML) or any markup language supportinghyperlinks to media content.

Next, at block 718, the media gateway 620 determines whether thereceived Web page includes language constructs to access media content.If not, the method of FIG. 7A proceeds to block 728, where the mediagateway 620 transmits the received Web page to the user mobile device660, and transitions to block 730 of FIG. 7B, described below. If,however, the received Web page is found to contain language constructsto access media content, the method moves to block 720, where the mediagateway 620 uses the topological information received from the usermobile device 660 to determine whether any electronic devices inproximity to the user mobile device 660 are suitable for displaying therequested media content. If, at block 722, the media gateway 620determines that electronic devices suitable for displaying the requestedmedia content are not accessible to the user mobile device 660, themethod of FIG. 7A transitions to block 728, where the media gateway 620transmits the received Web page to the user mobile device 660. Themethod of FIG. 7A then transitions to block 730 of FIG. 7B, describedbelow.

If, however, at block 722, the method of FIG. 7A determines thatelectronic devices suitable for displaying the requested media contentare accessible to the user mobile device 660, the method moves to block724, where the media gateway 620 uses the topological information tomodify the received Web page by inserting language constructs that willbe rendered and displayed by the browser 675 of user mobile device 660as additional graphical icons. The additional icons added to thereceived Web page for display by the user mobile device 660 representthe electronic devices accessible to the user mobile device 660 that aresuitable for displaying the media content accessible through thereceived Web page. The method of FIG. 7A then, at block 726, transmitsthe modified Web page, which includes the language constructs to displaythe additional graphical icons, to the user mobile device 660 forrendering and display. The method then transitions to clock 730 of FIG.7B.

The method proceeds at block 730 when the media gateway 620 receivesfrom the user mobile device 660 a command and related parametersrequesting media content. The method of FIG. 7B then, at block 732,determines whether the request for media content resulted from userselection of an icon added by the media gateway 620. If the request formedia content received from the user mobile device 660 was the result ofuser selection of an icon added to the Web page by the media gateway620, the method of FIG. 7B, at block 734, transmits the requested mediacontent to the electronic device represented by the selected icon, sothat it can be rendered and displayed on the selected electronic device.If, however, the media gateway determines, at block 732, that therequest for a media did not result from selection of an icon added bythe media gateway 620, the media gateway of the method of FIG. 7B, atblock 736, transmits the media content to the user mobile device 660,for rendering and display by the browser 675.

Aspects of the present invention may be seen in a method of operating amedia gateway supporting location based services. Such a method maycomprise receiving, from a mobile device of a user, topologicalinformation identifying one or more electronic devices in a premiseenvironment, and receiving, from the mobile device for transmission to aserver, a message identifying content for delivery by the server to themobile device. The method may receive, from the server, the contentidentified in the message, determine whether the received contentcontains information identifying user selectable media content, andmodify the content received from the server to cause display at themobile device of one or more graphical objects representing electronicdevices in the premise environment capable of reproducing the selectablemedia content.

A representative embodiment of the present invention may transmit themodified content to the mobile device for display, receive, from themobile device, an indication of user selection of a graphical objectrepresenting one of the one or more electronic devices capable ofreproducing the media content, and send to the server a requesting fordelivery of the media content to the media gateway. Such arepresentative embodiment may also direct received media content to theone of the one or more electronic devices corresponding to the selectedgraphical object.

In various representative embodiments of the present invention, thecontent may comprise content of a web page, and may comprise elements ofa markup language that supports hyperlinks to media content. In somerepresentative embodiments of the present invention, the markup languagemay comprise hypertext markup language (HTML). The mobile device of theuser may be one of a cellular telephone, a smart phone, and a portablepersonal computer, and may comprise a tablet computer. The topologicalinformation may comprise identity and capability information for each ofthe one or more electronic devices, and may comprise informationrepresenting arrangement and connectivity of the one or more electronicdevices. The topological information may be determined by the mobiledevice using wireless communication with electronic devices within acertain proximity of the mobile device. In a representative embodimentof the present invention, the modifying may comprise augmenting thereceived content with additional information representing one or moreselectable graphical objects for rendering and display at the mobiledevice, where the one or more graphical objects corresponding to thoseof the one or more electronic devices that are capable of reproducingmedia content.

Additional aspects of the present invention may be found in a system foruse in a media gateway supporting location based services. Such a systemmay comprise at least one processor arranged to communicatively coupleto a server and to a mobile device of a user. The at least oneprocessor, during operation, may receive, from the mobile device,topological information identifying one or more electronic devices in apremise environment, and receive, from the mobile device fortransmission to the server, a message identifying content for deliveryby the server to the mobile device. The at least one processor may alsoreceive, from the server, the content identified in the message,determine whether the received content contains information identifyinguser selectable media content, and modify the content received from theserver to cause display at the mobile device of one or more graphicalobjects representing electronic devices in the premise environmentcapable of reproducing the selectable media content.

The at least one processor of a representative embodiment may transmitthe modified content to the mobile device for display, and receive, fromthe mobile device, an indication of user selection of a graphical objectrepresenting one of the one or more electronic devices capable ofreproducing the media content. The at least one processor may send tothe server a requesting for delivery of the media content to the mediagateway, and direct received media content to the one of the one or moreelectronic devices corresponding to the selected graphical object.

In various representative embodiments of the present invention, thecontent may comprise content of a web page, and may comprise elements ofa markup language that supports hyperlinks to media content In somerepresentative embodiments of the present invention, the markup languagemay comprise hypertext markup language (HTML). The mobile device of theuser may be one of a cellular telephone, a smart phone, and a portablepersonal computer, and may comprise a tablet computer.

The topological information may comprise identity and capabilityinformation for each of the one or more electronic devices, and maycomprise information representing arrangement and connectivity of theone or more electronic devices. The topological information may bedetermined by the mobile device using wireless communication withelectronic devices within a certain proximity of the mobile device.

The modifying may comprise augmenting the received content withadditional information representing one or more selectable graphicalobjects for rendering and display at the mobile device, the one or moregraphical objects corresponding to those of the one or more electronicdevices that are capable of reproducing media content.

Yet another representative embodiment of the present invention may beobserved in a non-transitory computer-readable medium having storedthereon a plurality of code sections, each code section comprising aplurality of executable instructions for a processor. The instructionsmay cause the processor to perform the operations comprising receiving,from a mobile device of a user, topological information identifying oneor more electronic devices in a premise environment, and receiving, fromthe mobile device for transmission to a server, a message identifyingcontent for delivery by the server to the mobile device. Theinstructions may also cause the processor to receive, from the server,the content identified in the message, determine whether the receivedcontent contains information identifying user selectable media content,and modify the content received from the server to cause display at themobile device of one or more graphical objects representing electronicdevices in the premise environment capable of reproducing the selectablemedia content.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, theinstructions may cause the processor to transmit the modified content tothe mobile device for display, receive, from the mobile device, anindication of user selection of a graphical object representing one ofthe one or more electronic devices capable of reproducing the mediacontent, and send to the server a requesting for delivery of the mediacontent to the media gateway. In addition, the instructions may causethe processor to direct received media content to the one of the one ormore electronic devices corresponding to the selected graphical object.The content may comprise content of a web page, and may compriseelements of a markup language that supports hyperlinks to media content.In some representative embodiments of the present invention, the markuplanguage may comprise hypertext markup language (HTML). The mobiledevice of the user may be one of a cellular telephone, a smart phone,and a portable personal computer, and may comprise a tablet computer.

In various representative embodiments of the present invention, thetopological information may comprise identity and capability informationfor each of the one or more electronic devices, and may compriseinformation representing arrangement and connectivity of the one or moreelectronic devices. The topological information may be determined by themobile device using wireless communication with electronic deviceswithin a certain proximity of the mobile device. The modifying maycomprise augmenting the received content with additional informationrepresenting one or more selectable graphical objects for rendering anddisplay at the mobile device, the one or more graphical objectscorresponding to those of the one or more electronic devices that arecapable of reproducing media content;

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software. The presentinvention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least onecomputer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elementsare spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind ofcomputer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methodsdescribed herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware andsoftware may be a general-purpose computer system with a computerprogram that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computersystem such that it carries out the methods described herein.

The present invention may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: accessing, by a mediadevice, content identified in a request from a mobile device; providing,by the media device, a plurality of links, each of the plurality oflinks corresponding to at least one of a plurality of electronic devicesin a premise environment identified via information obtained by themobile device; transmitting, by the media device, the content with theplurality of links to the mobile device for display; receiving, by themedia device, a selection of a selected one of the plurality of linksfrom the mobile device; and transmitting, by the media device, thecontent to the selected one of the plurality of electronic devicescorresponding to the selection for display if the selected one of theplurality of electronic devices is capable of rendering the content. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises at least a portionof: a network page, a video, or a media stream.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the content comprises elements of a markup language thatsupports hyperlinks to media content, wherein the plurality of linkscomprises hyperlinks.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the markuplanguage comprises hypertext markup language (HTML).
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the mobile device is selected from a group consistingof a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a portable personal computer,and a tablet computer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the informationcomprises identity and capability information for the at least oneelectronic device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information isdetermined by the mobile device using wireless communication with the atleast one electronic device within a certain proximity of the mobiledevice.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprises augmenting thecontent with the plurality of links for display at the mobile device. 9.A system comprising: a media device comprising at least one processor,wherein the media device is configured to: access content identified ina request from a mobile device; provide a plurality of links, each ofthe plurality of links corresponding to at least one of a plurality ofelectronic devices in a premise environment identified via informationobtained by the mobile device; transmit the content with the pluralityof links to the mobile device for display; receive a selection of aselected one of the plurality of links from the mobile device; andtransmit the content to the selected one of the plurality of electronicdevices corresponding to the selection for display if the selected oneof the plurality of electronic devices is capable of rendering thecontent.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the content compriseselements of a markup language that supports hyperlinks to media content,wherein the plurality of links comprises hyperlinks.
 11. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the media device is further configured to determinewhether at least one of the plurality of electronic devices is capableof rendering the content.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein the contentcomprises at least a portion of: a network page, a video, or a mediastream.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein the information furthercomprises topological information having identity and capabilityinformation for each of the plurality of electronic devices.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the topological information furthercomprises information representing arrangement and connectivity of atleast a portion of the plurality of electronic devices.
 15. The systemof claim 13, wherein the topological information is determined by themobile device using wireless communication with the plurality ofelectronic devices within a certain proximity of the mobile device. 16.A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executablein at least one computing device, comprising code that: accesses networkcontent identified in a request from a mobile device; provide aplurality of links, each of the plurality of links corresponding to atleast one of a plurality of electronic devices in a premise environmentidentified in topological information obtained via the mobile device;transmits the network content with the plurality of links to the mobiledevice for display; receive a selection of a selected one of theplurality of links from the mobile device; and transmits at least aportion of the network content to the selected one of the plurality ofelectronic devices corresponding to the selection for display if theselected one of the plurality of electronic devices is capable ofrendering the network content.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 16, wherein the network content further compriseselements of a markup language that supports hyperlinks to media content,wherein the plurality of links comprises hyperlinks.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the markuplanguage further comprises hypertext markup language (HTML).
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the mobiledevice is selected from a group consisting of a cellular telephone, asmart phone, a portable personal computer, and a tablet computer. 20.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein thetopological information further comprises identity and capabilityinformation for each of the one or more electronic devices.